During the last 25 years, the art of critical care medicine has greatly changed. Specialized units for patient care, advances in technology, and a better understanding of physiology by health care practitioners have reduced morbidity and mortality. One of the earliest advances in technology that helped to drive this progress was the development of the catheter. In the early 1970's, the addition of a thermistor to the catheter allowed for rapid assessment of cardiac output. At the same time, more sophisticated monitoring systems were also being developed. As a result, more complete hemodynamic assessment could be carried out with relative ease at a patient's bedside.
With advanced technology came the requirement of advanced clinicians. For hemodynamic monitoring, catheter placement by the clinician is important for accurate measurement of total hemoglobin (tHB) and oxygen saturation and other physiological parameters. If the catheter is placed incorrectly, strong artifacts can interfere with the measurements. In particular, blood-vessel walls have optical properties that include a strong scattering profile that can create unwanted artifacts significantly interfering with hemodynamic measurements.
Currently, there are no known devices to assist clinicians with proper catheter placement within a blood vessel for the clearest and highest quality signals.